Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 669, Making Controversial Comments.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 669.
© transcript Emily Beynon And all of our current episodes by going there and becoming an ESL podcast member to help support this podcast.
This episode is called making controversial comments.
It is a dialogue between Vivian and William, using a lot of vocabulary that would describe comments or remarks, things that you say that would make other people angry.
Let's get started.
That news commentator should be fired for making such inflammatory comments.
At least I won't watch the show again until she is.
As usual, you're making a mountain out of a molehill.
She was just expressing her opinion, albeit a controversial one.
Her opinion is offensive.
Mark my words.
Before the end of the week, a lot of people will be up in arms calling for her head on a platter.
I doubt it.
It'll all blow over.
It's just a tempest in a teapot.
No way.
She'll never get away with it.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
Sure, I'll take that bet.
What does the winner get?
Just the pleasure of seeing the other person eat her words.
Every country, every culture has things, topics that you can talk about and other topics that it would not be good to talk about with people you don't know very well.
In the United States in most businesses you don't have a lot of people talking about religion or politics.
Those are two areas that can be very controversial, topics that people have strong opinions about.
Well, in this dialogue, Vivian and William are describing someone on the television, a news commentator who has controversial opinions, who makes controversial statements or comments.
Vivian begins by saying that news commentator should be fired for making such inflammatory comments.
A news commentator is a person who gives their opinion about the news on a television or radio or, I guess, podcast program as well.
Vivian thinks the news commentator should be fired, meaning they should lose their job.
They should be told they can no longer work at that company.
Why?
Because they made inflammatory comments.
Inflammatory is something that makes other people very angry, something that would cause a very negative reaction.
Vivian says, at least I won't watch this show, this television program, until she is.
So the news commentator was a woman.
William says, as usual, you're making a mountain out of a molehill.
This is an old expression, to make a mountain, a very large thing, out of a molehill.
M-O-L-E-H-I-L-L.
One word.
A molehill is very small.
So if you're making a mountain out of a molehill, you're making something that isn't very important, something that isn't very significant and acting as if it were a huge, big problem.
The verb we would use here is to exaggerate, to exaggerate the problem, to say this is... a horrible thing it's the worst thing in the world that's to make a mountain out of a mole hill a mole m-o-l-e is a small animal that digs into the ground and so when it comes up out of the ground it digs dirt and the dirt comes up and you can see a little hill where the mole goes in and out that's the origin of that particular term.
William says, as usual, you're making a mountain out of a molehill.
As usual, if William is the husband, is not a very good thing to say.
You see, when you're having an argument with your wife or your husband, you don't want to say things like as usual, because then you get the person even more angry.
You get them angrier because now you're talking about things they do all the time, rather than just what happened today.
A little marriage advice from me to you, or relationship advice.
Girlfriend, boyfriend, that sort of thing.
Don't say, as usual. unless it's a positive thing.
Williams says the news commentator was just expressing her opinion, albeit a controversial one.
Albeit, A-L-B-E-I-T is a less common way of saying, although It's a word used to modify what you had just said, making it a little less strong.
It's not that common in spoken English.
It's not even that common in written English, but you will hear it sometimes.
It basically means although.
So the woman was just expressing her opinion, although... a controversial one.
It was an opinion, but it was something that would make other people perhaps angry.
It was a very strong opinion.
Vivian says her opinion is offensive.
Something that is offensive is something that is inflammatory.
It's something that makes you very angry.
It might even make you feel insulted if someone says, all blonde-haired people are stupid.
Well, that's an offensive statement.
You are insulting people who have blonde hair.
And, of course, I used to have blonde hair when I had hair, so that's offensive to me.
Although if you said all bald men are very handsome, are good looking, now that is not offensive.
That is just stating the facts, the truth, right?
Vivian says that this woman's opinion was offensive.
Mark my words, she says.
This expression, mark my words, means listen very carefully to what I am saying.
It is often used, when you are going to make a prediction about something, to guess what will happen in the future.
And that's what Vivian does.
She says, mark my words, before the end of the week...
A lot of people will be up in arms calling for her head on a platter.
A couple of common expressions there.
Before the end of the week say Friday or Saturday.
The week in the United States begins on our calendars on Sunday.
In other countries, the week begins on Monday.
So you have to be careful when you're looking at a calendar in English an American calendar at least because the week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday.
Vivian says before the end of the week, a lot of people will be up in arms.
The word arms can mean the things on your body that come out of your shoulders, but arms also means weapons, things used to hurt other people.
To be up in arms means, in this case, to be very excited, often angry at something, or It's an expression that is used to show that people are ready to fight because they're so mad.
They're so angry.
It's as if they were getting guns in order to attack you up in arms.
People will be up in arms calling for the news commentator's head on a platter, P-L-A-T-T-E-R.
A platter is a large plate that you put food on to bring to someone else.
This expression actually comes from the Christian Bible, from the New Testament, when John the Baptist, who was Jesus' cousin, was arrested.
And I won't tell you the whole story, but basically when he was killed, his head was was chopped off.
It was removed from his body and put on a platter and brought to the at that time Queen of Judea.
Well, this expression, like a lot of expressions from the Bible, has become part of common speech, the way we talk, And in this case, it means that she is going to be punished for something.
In this case, as in most cases, it would mean to lose your job or to be punished very strongly or severely.
William says, I doubt it.
He doesn't think she's going to be fired.
To blow over is a two-word phrasal verb, meaning to become less important over time.
This is especially used for arguments like Because in time, people sort of forget about what they were fighting about.
That is the meaning of to blow over.
There are some other meanings with those words that can be found in the learning guide.
So, William says he thinks this controversy is a tempest in a teapot.
A teapot.
T-E-A-P-O-T one word is something that you put tea into hot water and tea.
You combine them in a teapot.
A tempest, T-E-M-P-E-S-T, is a large storm, something that would happen in a large lake or an ocean.
There was a play by Shakespeare called The Tempest.
Wonderful play.
It's about what happens after a large storm has ended.
A storm is when you have lots of rain and wind, that sort of thing.
So to have a tempest in a teapot is very similar to make a mountain out of a molehill.
That is...
It's not possible to have a tempest, a huge storm, in a little small area.
And that's another way of saying that you are becoming more angry than this really deserves.
You're making it more important than it is.
Vivian says, no way.
She does not agree at all.
She'll never get away with it.
The expression to get away with something means that you do something wrong, but you are not punished.
You don't have any what we might call negative consequences for your actions or of your actions.
To get away with something means that you do something wrong, but no one catches you and you're never punished.
William says, oh, yeah.
And Vivian says, yeah.
Notice in an informal speech, we use yeah to mean yes.
But the expression, oh, yeah, means do you really think so?
Meaning you don't agree with that person.
And Vivian says, yeah.
William says, do you want to make a bet?
That is, do you want to each say that we will give the other person money if the other person wins the argument?
Do you want to make a bet?
Vivian says, sure, I'll take that bet.
Meaning, yes, I accept your offer of a bet.
What does the winner get?
William says, just the pleasure of seeing the other person eat her words.
To eat your words means to admit that you are wrong.
It's like the words that come out of your mouth.
You have to take them and put them back into your mouth.
In fact, we even use the phrasal verb to take back what you said, meaning to withdraw it, to say I was wrong.
So to eat your words is to admit, to confess that you were wrong about something that you said.
This is something I do all the time in my marriage.
So Vivian asks what the winner will get and William says just the pleasure of seeing the other person eat her words.
That is, there's no money involved in the bet.
It's just the satisfaction of knowing that you were correct.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
That news commentator should be fired for making such inflammatory comments.
At least I won't watch this show again until she is.
As usual, you're making a mountain out of a molehill.
She was just expressing her opinion, albeit a controversial one.
Her opinion is offensive.
Mark my words.
Before the end of the week, a lot of people will be up in arms calling for her head on a platter.
I doubt it.
It'll all blow over.
It's just a tempest in a teapot.
No way.
She'll never get away with it.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
Do you want to make a bet?
Sure.
I'll take that bet.
What does the winner get?
Just the pleasure of seeing the other person eat her words.
We hope our scripts never contain anything that is inflammatory or offensive.
And I think we succeed because we have a good script writer, the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Education and Development.
